Graduate Study in China

[RQuealy]

Dajia hao,

I realize there are a lot of posts on this topic but none seem to address my question. I'd like to pursue a master's degree in Chinese language and perhaps Chinese culture/political development. Many of the English versions of Chinese Universities' websites don't carry a lot of information about specific degree programs. I was wondering if anyone could offer information on programs they may know about. I'm open to a lot of universities and locations, I don't really have a set idea in mind. I'd appreciate any help you can offer, even if it's just a link to another website.

Thanks

--Rob

[AziL213]

Hi Rob,

I am in the same boat as you, looking for graduate programs in China. It's definitely been very difficult to come by information - I am in my last year as an undergrad at a large U.S. university, and even my Chinese professors and other China-related folks at school have not been able to provide much useful information.

So far, the most information I have been able to find is on the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. The program is a collaboration between Johns Hopkins and Nanjing University, and they offer either a one year graduate certificate or a two-year M.A. in Chinese/American Studies. For the Master's, you can choose different concentrations, one of which is International Politics, which might be along the lines or what you're looking for. My professors have said that it's a very reputable program, but also very expensive. The classes are taught mostly in Chinese (some in English) but my professors mentioned that you only need to have completed a fourth year college-level Chinese course to make it in the program - which makes me wonder if it's actually graduate level, or if it's toned down some because of its American affiliation. Anyway, here's the link to their site if you are interested: http://nanjing.jhu.edu/index.html

One of my professors recommended that I do what you mentioned - check out Chinese universities online and apply directly (as opposed to doing it through a study abroad program). However, I've also found that many Chinese universities' English sites are very limited. This might be a redundant question, but is your language good enough to navigate the Chinese versions? If so, that would definitely be the way to go. I haven't done a TON of research yet, but so far I've found that Tsinghua University (one of the best in China) has a pretty comprehensive English site about their programs for foreign students. Here you go: http://intlstudent.cic.tsinghua.edu.cn/EN/index.html

I know that's not much information, but hopefully it helps some. I'll post again if I find more info - and please let me know if you come across anything useful too!

Good luck,

Amy

[gato]

There are very few reputable graduate programs taught in English in China. The ones that are available are all at prices comparable what you see in the West, i.e., at tuition of US$20,000 and up. These programs have be financial self-sustaining. In fact, the schools probably see them as a money-maker rather than a solely educational venture. It costs money to hire competent teachers who can teach a college class in English, and the costs are not necessarily less than what they would be outside of China. If you need to hire expats, you might even have to pay an extra premium, as China is still considered a hardship duty for a lot of people.

See this Tsinghua law school graduate program for an example:

http://www.tsinghua.edu.cn/docsn/fxy/english/llm/llmTuition.htm

If you look at the private international high schools in China, you'll see that their tuitions are outrageously high, many over US$30,000 a year. A big cost for them is salaries and expenses for teachers.

[gato]

Here are some old discussions of graduate school programs in China:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/2-favourite-chinese-musician1907&highlight=fudan

Chinese "Ivy League"? And Masters Degrees

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/2-favourite-chinese-musician9810&highlight=fudan

My recent studying methods, Part II

[wushijiao]

I would broadly echo Gato's sense of caution when looking at higher education in China. China is right now going through a "Great Leap Forward" in the university system, and they have just overtaken America to be the world's leader in PhD's given per year (many of which have dubious standards)!

However, I've heard many good things about the Nanjing-Hopkins program, and one of my friends just started there and is pretty impressed so far. That might be the best bet as far as the OP is concerned.

Also, I think doing a higher degree at any of the so-called Ivies could be a good (or great) idea, especially from a learning Chinese fluently point of view. However, the devil is in the details, and I think it would be good to research any program in depth before doing it (in other words, you could try to talk with faculty and current students...etc). It seems to me that (in my limited experience) it would also be very important to get a good adviser/prof to study under. If you were able to study under a really good professor, then I think it would probably be worth it. For example, one of my Korean friends at Fudan was getting his PhD under Ni Shixiong - a very respected scholar of international relations - at Fudan. He knew he wanted to study under Ni (because he know of him and had read a bunch of his work) and because of that, his experience was going as well as he had liked.